The Tree-Prison
by MusicRocks807
Summary: Okay so, basically a few short scenes involving the tree-prison that Diego trapped Shira in from Shira's POV. Slightly better summary inside. Please R&R! And yes, I know the cover image sucks.


**Okay so, this is another random Dira one-shot that I came up with out of the blue. I've always wondered what happened at these points in the movie so I figured I'd take a shot at writing about it. *shrugs* Sorry if it sucks.**

**Disclaimer: I love Ice Age to pieces, but sadly I do not own it :( A girl can dream, right?**

Shira's POV

"Let go of me!" I snap, trying to wriggle away from Diego, who has me pinned.

"Where do you think you're going?" teased Diego, smirking, until he notices something in the ocean "Oh, no..."

"What?" I ask, but he doesn't answer "Diego, what?"

"None of your business, Kitty," he mutters "Man, I gotta go tell the guys about this..."

"About what?"

"Shut up!" he hisses "Now c'mon, we're going to tell Manny."

I laugh. "What makes you think I'm coming?"

"Because I'm making you," he says firmly.

"You're not the boss of me!" I scoff, attempting to wriggle free again, but he's stronger than I anticipated.

"Weak, weak little Kitty," chuckles Diego, pressing me into the ground with seemingly no effort "Face it, you couldn't beat me if I had a paw missing!"

"That can be arranged," I growl darkly, but Diego's not afraid of me. At least, not _that _afraid of me. I know he's got that crazy herd of his, so he's become softer than he once was, but he must still have some of his sharp sabre instincts, because he realises his error of trying to force me to come with him. And he must know there is no way on Earth that I'm staying put and waiting for those morons to come and do whatever they want to with me.

"Ugh, fine," he groans "You don't have to come."

"I don't need your permission!" I snap, somewhat annoyed "You can't control me! You can't-"

He cuts me off by placing his paw over my mouth, but he forgot one thing; sabres have sharp teeth. I open my mouth as wide as I can with his paw covering it, and bite down hard on the sensitive pads of his paws.

Diego almost roars in pain, but he overcomes the urge and instead slaps me in the face out of sheer anger. I hold back the tears that threaten to spill down my cheeks, knowing that would make me look very vulnerable and weak, which I am not, it's just the slap hurt a lot.

Bizarrely, he seems, uhm, I don't know… regretful? But why would he regret hurting me, we're enemies! He shouldn't care in the least about my feelings, I certainly don't care about his! At least, not much… I mean, I don't have regrets about teasing him, and insulting him, or even biting him just a minute or two ago! So, why should he feel bad hitting me? Because I'm a girl? If that's his reason… he's gonna have more problems than a bite on his paw.

"Uhm… sorry, about the slap, I just felt… angry…" he tries to apologise. What is wrong with this guy? Why apologise to the enemy?

"What is wrong with you? Why apologise to the enemy?" What, I speak my mind! Anyway, he just gives me this glance that's almost… pitying? Man, he is so… ugh. He just annoys me in general. He is definitely on my hit-list, though. For now, at least. If he's lucky, he might just get promoted to my enemy list, not my hit-list, which is basically animals I'd kill on sight. If someone's on my enemy list, they can get attacked, not killed, which is better, right?

"I'm apologising because I was wrong to hit you!" he explains, rolling his eyes as if a cub should understand it. Disliking his attitude, I bite down hard on his foreleg, but strangely enough the roar of pain he fails to hold in doesn't give me satisfaction. Instead, I actually feel guilty… wait, since when do I, First Mate of Captain Gutt, The Master of the Seas, feel guilty? Especially for an enemy?!

My thoughts are soon interrupted, as that tubby mammoth and the rank-smelling sloth come from running through the trees. The old sloth follows on foot, calling for that Precious again. Man, is she ever gonna quit it with the Precious calls?! Manny pushes Diego off me, and slaps me with his trunk when he sees the bites, but he doesn't feel any remorse for me, unlike his sabre companion. Strangely, the smelly sloth does.

"Manny! You can't just hit her like that!" he tries to defend me, standing over me in a protective stance, or at least, his attempt at one "She may be a pirate, but that doesn't mean you can just whack her in the head and it's okay!"

Manny goes to argue, but Diego stops him. "Ignore the sloth, Manny; something important is going on down there."

"What?" asks Manny, and I have to say I'm curious too.

"Gutt and his crew are down in the cove," he whispers, but I still hear and my heart leaps. Yes! _My_ version of their silly herd! They're here!

Diego must realise I've heard, because he pins me again, but this time he has me actually over the cliff, my head isn't on the ground anymore. I gulp in fear, and Diego turns to his mammoth friend.

"Manny!" Diego shouts, and then makes some gestures. Manny must understand, because he runs off to do something, Sid close behind. Diego purposely blocks my view, so I don't know what's happening until I am roughly picked up, lifted high and thrown into a trap of some sort. I lay on the ground, momentarily stunned from the fall, and by the time I'm up on my paws again, I can see there's no escape. I'm inside a large, hollow tree, and the wide entrance at the front is covered in sturdy branches. I decide the mammoth must've thrown me in from the top, because I can clearly see all the leaves and higher branches of the tree, so that's probably how they got me in here. But I can honestly say they can't make me stay here.

* * *

Hours. I've been trapped in here for hours. Just lying on the floor of this prison, thinking things over. Actually, silently fuming.

_Those dirty, rotten, useless, good-for-nothing, waste of mangy, stinking fur that- _A twig snaps. I growl and whip around, my fury boiling over.

"Easy Kitty," Diego's voice enters the prison, and a small turtle shell filled with water slides through a gap in the branches that cover the entrance "Water. You need it."

Anger overpowering common sense, I slide the shell out again. "I don't need anything from you."

"Fine, die of thirst. That'll really show me," he shrugs, turning to walk away. _I can't believe I'm about to do this!_

"Wait!" I call after him, unable to look him in the eye "I'll take it."

He slides it back through, there's slight silence, but I know what I'm supposed to say. "Thank-you."

"Y'know, you have a way of saying 'Thank-you' that makes it sound like 'Drop dead'," he informs me. I smile all too innocently.

"It's a gift," I say sweetly. He turns to leave again. "Wow, you're pretty soft, for a sabre."

He whips around, coming back up to the tree. "Hey, I am not soft, okay? I happen to be a remorseless assassin!"

"Oh Diego-poo!" calls Sid cheerily, skipping up to him "I made you another coral necklace!"

He slips it around Diego's neck, then turns to me and says "He keeps losing them!" before skipping away, singing to himself.

Diego looks towards me for help, but I just smirk. "Yeah, I think I'm starting to get why you're not in a pack."

"Hey, I chose to leave my pack, alright!" he snaps. I roll my eyes.

"Congratulations Warrior Princess," I mentally snigger at the nickname I've given him "So did I."

"Really?"

Something about his tone irritates me. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just, I know how hard that is..." he swallows "Walking away from, everything you know."

I roll my eyes again. "What, are we gonna braid each-other's fur now?" I ask sarcastically, turning and walking further into the tree before sitting down.

"Funny. Really funny. Can I tell you the difference between you and me?"

"I wouldn't still be wearing that necklace?" I suggest. Well c'mon, he walked into that one.

"No!" he huffs, snapping off the necklace "We both might've wandered out of pack life but at least I didn't trade one pack for another. I got something more."

"Oh yeah?" I walk forward, pretending I don't care, when really I'm kind of intrigued "What's that?"

"A herd," he answers simply.

"What's the difference?" I scoff, seriously not knowing what he means.

"We have each-other's backs."

"Gutt has my back!" I retort "I'm his First-Mate!"

"Really?" Diego questions "Coz I don't see Gutt sending out any search parties for ya."

He has me there. I pause for a moment, knowing he has a good point. But being a sabre, I am stubborn and do not take lightly to defeat. "Y'know, you won't beat him," I tell Diego "You're big furry friend over there, he has no idea what he's up against."

"Yeah but..." Diego looks over at the mammoth who is communicating his plan to the Hyrax "Neither does Gutt."

I roll my eyes for a third time, heading to the back of the cave, or tree, whatever you want to call it. I lie down, ignoring Diego as he tries to talk to me. Why won't he just go away? At least, I ignore him until a small rock hits me in the head.

"Ow!" I complain, rubbing my head "What did you do that for?"

"To get your attention," he answers, smirking. I groan.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

"No can do," he says "I'm gonna be here all night."

"What? Why?!" I exclaim, startled. I don't want to spend all night with him!

"Because Manny said so. It's in case you try to escape, which we thought you might."

_Congratulations, Captain Obvious._

"So, why're _you _the one guarding me? Why can't one of your stupid friends do it?" I inquire, wondering whether he volunteered to watch over me. If he has... I shudder at the possible reasons.

"Like I said, Manny told me to."

_Jeez, can't you do anything without Manny telling you to?_

Giving up on the conversation again, I retire to the very back of the hollow tree, pressing myself against the wall. He still continues to talk to me, and throws more rocks until I talk to him again.

"Why're you so desperate to talk to me?" I demand, annoyed. He shrugs.

"Guard duty is boring. It's more fun if I have a prisoner that'll talk to me."

"Well, you don't," I inform him, resting my head on my paws and closing my eyes. I yawn, trying to convince him I'm going to sleep.

"Shira. Shira!" he repeats, trying to get me to talk to him again "Oh c'mon, nobody falls asleep that fast!"

_And Captain Obvious prevails again._

* * *

Man, Diego is very bad at guard duty. He's fallen asleep, but unfortunately he's lying right in front of the entrance, so even if I could break past the branches, I'd most likely end up waking him.

But just because he's in the way now, doesn't mean he's going to be in the way tomorrow. I claw quietly at the branches, weakening them, so that if I could charge into them hard enough they'd break somewhat quietly.

Just wait until tomorrow Diego. Just wait until tomorrow.

...

This is it. This is my chance. They're searching for Granny, who wandered off, so I'm here by myself. Not for long, I know where my crew is residing. Now all I have to do is get out of here. I brace myself for the stabbing pain of the branches, and charge right at them. I break past them with ease, ignoring the grazes on my body, they don't matter.

I race off into the forest, and just in time to. Diego and the rest of them are just returning as I flee. I'd better run fast if I want to get there in time to catch my crew.

* * *

_(After they've landed at Switchback cove)_

Who would've thought everything could change so fast? Just yesterday I was racing to get back to Gutt and his crew, and now I'm here. With them. With him. Diego. The only animal who was able to get through to me so easily. And I'm so happy that he did.

I leap down from the ice ship, not needing to use the ramp that the others are taking. I've spent most of my life on ships like this one, so I know them well, and know a lot of stuff about them, like how to get on and off in one jump.

Diego looks down at me, seemingly impressed. I can't help feeling kind of glad that he's impressed with me. Don't get me wrong, I don't rely on his approval or anything, like I used to do with Gutt, it's just nice to know he doesn't think I'm pathetic and weak. Like Gutt did.

"Hey Kitty," Diego greets me. I roll my eyes.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" I ask, but my tone is teasing.

"About as many times as I've done it?" he suggests. I roll my eyes at him again, shaking my head slowly, liking the jangling sound of my earrings. Apparantly Diego does too, because he reaches up with one paw and flicks them, listening to them. I blush at how close he is, right next to my face. I can feel his breath on my face, as his lips are only an inch or two away from mine, and it's so tempting to lean in a little closer and give him a slight peck on the lips, but I don't.

_"_So..." I say, slightly awkwardly. Diego suddenly realises how close he is to me and backs up not-so-discreetly.

"Uhm... we probably, oughtta... find, a den, or something..." he tries to break the silence. I nod, and follow him into the woods. I walk as close as I can to him, occassionally brushing my fur against his, wondering what he'll do.

I get my answer when he freezes in his tracks.

"D-Diego..." I gently nudge his shoulder.

"Race ya!" he blurts out randomly, before darting into the woods. I've successfully hid my limp from him until now, but there's no way I can race. So I trudge meakly through the trees, following his paw prints in the ground.

After a while, Diego shows up again, clearly having noticed I'm not behind him. He looks worried... oh no, now I'm going to have to come up with a reason why I haven't ran after him.

"Diego, I can explain-" I begin, but he stops me.

"Gutt beat you up, didn't he?" he asks, but I know it's a statement, not a question "And now you can barely walk, correct?"

I sigh. "Wow, you're a good guesser."

Diego gently takes me by the paw, leading me into the dense forest. I allow him to take me wherever we are going, but I am very nervous, because I have no idea what he is planning. Soon after, we come across that tree again, which is big enough for two, but they'd have to be pretty close together... wait, I think I know where this is going.

He walks inside, carefully pulling me after him. "Now lie down," he tells me, as soon as we get to the middle of the cave. I nod obediently.

"Aye Aye..." I say out of habit, trailing off when I realise what I have said. He tenses, but doesn't say anything, just helps me down to the floor. He lies down beside me, checking me over for wounds or bruises.

I can't shake the feeling that something is going to happen, something shocking, but I assure myself I'm just imagining it.

"Hold still, Shira..." he murmurs, before running his tongue down my spine, where I know I am badly bruised. I can feel myself turning deep red, but I let him continue, as the feeling of his tongue on my skin is absolutely sensational. I can feel him licking away at my bruises and small cuts, and I'm deciding I might not hate this tree-prison as much as I thought I did...

**Okay so, what didja think? Thanks for reading and please review! xD**


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